This invention relates to bladesets for hair clippers, and more particularly, to clipper bladesets including a reciprocating moving cutting blade and a stationary blade upon which the moving blade reciprocates, and wherein at least one of the blades is provided with a configuration which promotes the evacuation of hair clippings and/or hair from the cutting area of the bladeset, and facilitates the flow of hair away from the cutting area.
Electric hair clippers are well known in the art, and generally include a bladeset having a stationary blade and a moving blade. Each of the blades has a row of spaced teeth arranged so that hair strands which enter between the teeth of the stationary blade are cut when the teeth of the moving blade pass across the stationary blade teeth.
A common drawback of conventional hair clippers is that the hair clippings generated from the cutting action of the blades collect in the cutting area of the blades and become caught and/or clogged between the blades. As the hair clippings accumulate in the cutting area, a process which is exacerbated when cutting wet hair, the cutting action of the blades is impaired. Also, the subject's hair still attached to the scalp may also become clogged, snagged, or impair the operation of conventional clipper blades.
One attempt to solve this problem has been to mill or machine v-shaped grooves between the teeth of the stationary blade. Due to the shortcomings of conventional milling and machining techniques, these grooves tend to act like a funnel and do not provide sufficient avenues for escape of the hair and/or hair clippings. Thus, there is a need for a hair clipper bladeset which effectively facilitates the evacuation of a significant portion of hair and/or hair clippings from the cutting area of the bladeset.
Another drawback of conventional bladesets is the configuration of the individual teeth, which is also due in part to the limits of available milling or grinding technology. By design, each tooth has a designated rake angle, or the angle of slope of the side of the tooth from a relatively wide base or root, to a relatively narrow upper ridge or crown. The advantages of a large rake angle or a more gradual slope are that a sharper side edge is obtained, which is better for precise cutting. However, because of the narrow thickness of the blades, a larger rake angle results in a wider base for the tooth. Such a wider base makes it difficult for hair to feed through for cutting.
In addition, a sharper edged tooth is more easily damaged through use and dulls faster. Lastly, and again due to the relatively narrow thickness of the individual teeth, a larger rake angle results in a relatively narrow crown. Narrow crowns are easily damaged through normal manufacturing, and have been known to physically crumble or otherwise deteriorate due to insufficient thickness.
In the case of stationary blades, to promote the feeding of hair into the cutting area, the tip is desired to be thinner than the root, when viewed from above, and as such, the root is expected to be thicker than the tip. In addition, an overly thin root means that the rake angle cannot be too large, for fear of making the crown too thin and weak.
Thus, the decision of a specific, designed rake angle for a clipper tooth is a compromise of the above-listed factors. Even so, due to the limitations of conventional grinding, milling and machining technology, it is almost impossible to produce clipper teeth having the desired rake angle throughout a portion of their length near the cutting area, and also in the tooth height from base to crown. In fact, the rake angle of production teeth often varies depending on the point on the tooth where the angle is measured. This results in clipper teeth with less than optimal performance characteristics.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an improved blade for a hair clipper bladeset which is designed to prevent the accumulation and clogging of hair and/or hair clippings in the cutting area, which promotes the evacuation of clippings from the cutting area and promotes the flow of the user's remaining hair away from the blades.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved blade for a hair clipper bladeset which has a uniform rake angle at least along its length in the cutting area.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved bladeset for a hair clipper in which the teeth of the stationary blade are configured to prevent pinching of the skin.